And then there are the plexiglass sheets for covering paper maps, the grease pencils or markers for marking fronts and axes of advance, the many different storage containers, etc.
Stamp tongs was what the guys who used “tweezers” back in the day used in my gaming group.
https://www.amazon.com/stamp-tongs/s?k=stamp+tongs
I had a small wargaming club, maybe 10-15 members any given point, and one night a new guy came in. He brought a few games with him, Squad Leader being the one I remember. And he had all the counters with the corners clipped at a 45 degree angle, and they were all neatly stacked into counter trays. He whipped out a pair of stamp tongs and proceeded to pull counters out of the trays, using the space left by the corner clipping to get between the stacks of counters. Our minds were blown.
This guy was a level of hardcore gamer we had not previously experienced lol! He later told me he bought three copies of every game, one to play face to face, one to play by mail and one to keep in the shrinkwrap.
I knew dudes like this as well. What blew me away wasn’t the obsessiveness–I’m a spectrum person, believe me, I get it!–it was the fact they could afford multiple copies of these expensive games.
Well my first 3 videos are up on Youtube for Enemy Action:Ardennes German Solo playthrough…
Anyone with any thoughts, they would be most welcome!
First one is here, I’m sure you can find the rest if you have the desire after an hour of me droning on!
This game doesn’t sound interesting enough to buy, but the really interesting thing is that there is a companion book! Has to be among the only sources on the extremely obscure subject in English.
Going through the third lockdown in the UK means the miniature wargaming group I’ve become a member of has gone virtual, and we’re doing instead a free Kriegspiel of Operation Sealion (5/6 members on each side, each commanding a corps, with one umpire resolving battles based on gut feel, with 24 hour turns). It’s proving remarkably fun. I’ll try to put up an AAR in due course, but don’t want to give the other side any clues to our thinking just yet…
But as a teaser, it’s three days into the invasion, and the Germans, although pushing hard, are yet to push out of their two beachheads, and supplies seem to be starting to bite.
That sounds very cool indeed!
@sincilbanks I’ve listened to about half of your first video on Enemy Action: Ardennes, and I’m really enjoying it. I own the game and I’ve read the rules, but I’ve yet to play a complete solitaire game. Your video will help me get it on the table. You have a great speaking voice, and you’re very articulate – you’d be a good professor! I look forward to watching more.
Wow, I’m not sure what to say… thank you very much for those kind words…
Much obliged! Also, to contribute my two cents to the great tweezer debate. A post on BGG led me to this pair of lighted tweezers. I like them because they are big – about 7 inches long – and the tongs are almost an inch apart, so they pick up both 3/4-inch and 5/8-inch counters easily. The LED light is a nice feature but I don’t use it as much as I expected. I’m very happy with them.
They appear impossible to get in the UK, I’ve ordered them twice I think from Amazon.com only to have the order cancelled both times…
Ah, sorry to hear that. Well, they’re nice, but not “must-have.” I imagine any pair of large-ish tweezers would work for me.
Actually, I never used tweezers at all until I got this pair. I’d always made the mistake of trying tweezers that are too small, like the ones you use to remove a splinter from a finger. But now I tweeze!
Reposted from the Solitaire Boardgame thread here at Qt3. Scroll part way down this link for a big announcement on GMT solo games: https://mailchi.mp/3610efff995e/january-update-from-gmt-new-p500s-gmt-one-solo-info-production-update-and-more
I didn’t usually bother then I played a lot of Dark Valley and decided I was fed up sending stacks of Soviet infantry divisions scattering over the map like a parachute drop from Phil Barkers WRG WWII Rules…I blagged a pair of electrical ICU tweezers from work and have used them ever since, but they do need to be prised apart to pick up the bigger counters.
I’ve tried again to order those you have spotted we’ll see if we can get this one to stick!
@Ironsight, thanks to the link to the GMT One initiative. Good to hear about that. I stuck around the site to browse what’s on offer, and I ran across Versailles 1919, designed by Mark Herman and Geoff Engelstein. Anyone here tried it?
Also, I’ve never played a game designed by Mark Simonitch. I know @Brooski has done a podcast on Stalingrad '42; I’ll give that a listen. BGG seems to suggest it’s suitable for soo play. But, as I’ve been invading Russia for months in my current play of World in Flames, I might be more interested in a change of conflict, so I’m especially curoius about Simonitch’s The U.S. Civil War. Anyone played that? It looks maybe less suitable for solo play.
While Simonitch’s The US Civil War doesn’t have any solo rules, it’s perfectly suitable for solo play if you are comfortable playing both sides. In fact, the Action Phase rules add some unpredictability—each side rolls a d6 at the beginning of each turn. Whichever side rolls higher goes first and the difference between the die is the number of Action Points each player receives for the turn. And differences of 1 or 4/5 have special rules, including limiting the geography of activations or requiring the Union to attack in Virginia (“On To Richmond!”).
Thanks for the feedback. The US Civil War looks like an interesting design. I have played only a couple strategic-level Civil War games, both on the computer. I like the idea of a board game treatment. Anyway, thanks for the help.
Announcement trailer for Attack at Dawn from Panzer Division Games. Tomislav Čipčić = Brotherhood & Unity.
How are/is there other stuff? Hard to get a feel from this video exactly what sort of vibe they are going for. Though I confess, a company calling itself “Panzer Division Games” doesn’t make me want to jump up and give them money.
RTS? If so, then no thank you, Sir.
Looks like a first for the pooter. He designed the pretty awesome-looking and unique topically Brotherhood and Unity, but the idiot luddites at Compass won’t let a Vassal module emerge.